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Common Fisheries Policy

1. Commission rejects UK request for pair trawling ban to save dolphins.
2. Comments invited on new Italian fishery subsidies
3. Duty free products extended from Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
4. New anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of Norwegian farmed salmon
5. Community vessels exhaust quota of arctic prawn
6. Merger of Nutreco and Stolt-Nielsen given the green light
7. EU-Madagascar fisheries protocol signed

Fish hygiene

8. Twenty-nine rapid alerts for unsafe fishery products issued in April
9. Commission gave written warnings about unsafe fish to Taiwan, India, Indonesia and Malaysia
10. New list of third countries permitted to supply live fish and aquaculture products.
11. Disease free areas amended for diseases of shellfish and salmon
12. Phytase fully authorized for use in salmon feed; MRL for cadmium increased
13. EFSA provides guidance on smoke flavouring authorisations


Common Fisheries Policy

1. The Commission rejected the request by the UK to be allowed to ban pair trawling in UK waters, due to concern over dolphin bycatch. The measure is "not likely to contribute to the objective".

2. The Commission invited comments on Italy's proposal to introduce new state subsidies to encourage more entrants to the Sicilian fishery sector.

3. The Commission added salt-cod to a list of non-originating fishery products allowed zero duty access to the EU market from Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

4. The Commission set new anti-dumping duties on imports of Norwegian farmed salmon (of 13.5 to 24.5%, depending on producer) from end of April 2005. The Commission repealed the temporary safeguard measures introduced earlier.

5. All community vessels (other than those of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or Poland) were instructed to stop fishing for arctic prawns in the NAFO area, due to exhaustion of quota.

6. The European Commission cleared the merger of Nutreco Holding N.V. and the Luxembourg company Stolt-Nielsen S.A., to create a new joint venture, Marine Harvest N.V.

7. The EU Council Regulation set out the fisheries protocol for the EU-Madagascar fisheries agreement, giving fisheries access rights to tuna seiners (Spain, France and Italy) and surface longliners (Spain, France and Portugal), until 31 December 2006.



Fish hygiene

8. Twenty-nine rapid alerts were notified for failure to comply with health conditions for fishery products, including products from Spain (swordfish, porbeagle, mussels), USA (squid), Latvia (fishmeal), France (prawns, shrimps), and Denmark (rainbow trout).

9. In a report on the Rapid Alerts in 2004, the Commission reveals that it sent written warnings in 2004 to Taiwan, India, Indonesia and Malaysia regarding substandard fishery products supplied to the Community market.

10. The Commission amended the list of third countries from which imports are permitted into the Community of live fish and aquaculture products.

11. The Commission decided to approved several disease free zones with regard to parasitic diseases of shellfish (Bonamia ostreae and Marteilia refringens), and considered removing protective measures in respect of infectious salmon anaemia in the Faeroe Islands.

12. The Commission notified that the additive phytase is now fully authorized for use in salmon feed and increased the Maximum Residue Level permitted or cadmium in fish feedstuffs.

13. European Food Safety Authority gave guidance on how to apply for authorisation to use smoke flavourings from wood distillates.